In most jurisdictions across North America laws have been enacted making it mandatory for a motor vehicle to be equipped with rear brake lights connected to a pedal activated brake. The brake lights are illuminated upon activation of the pedal activated brake. When one motor vehicle is following another, the illumination of the lights of the lead vehicle provides a driver of the following motor vehicle with warning that the lead vehicle is decelerating.
Most large trucks have an auxiliary braking system known as a retardation system. The retardation system is used to slow the vehicle down. The driver does not need to activate the pedal activated brake in order to activate the retarder. As a consequence, the brake lights are not illuminated.
Retarders, designed as a means of supplementing the service brakes on long, steep downgrades, are found almost exclusively on diesel-powered medium and heavy trucks. You won't find a retarder on your car or pickup truck, primarily because of cost, vehicle gross weight, and the fact that gasoline engines don't “freewheel” as easily as diesel engines. Recent reductions in aerodynamic drag and rolling resistance in newer trucks have put increased strain on the service brakes, making retarders even more important than in the past.
The most common type of retarder is the engine brake. The engine brake harnesses the high compression ratio of a diesel engine to decelerate the truck. The engine becomes an air compressor, powered by the wheels, with braking energy dissipated in the engine and exhaust system instead of in the service brakes. The release of compressed air causes the characteristic roar of an engine brake.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,223,649 issued on Sep. 23, 1980 discloses a motor brake control system for use in motor vehicles having a motor brake retarder and a throttle fuel control that is designed to respond to manual selection for sequentially retarding the selected cylinders in the motor. The brake control system is activated when the motor exceeds a predetermined high RPM value to fully brake the vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,418,331 issued on Nov. 29, 1983 discloses a manually operated de-acceleration warning system with vacuum controlled override. The system includes a relay between a control loop containing a driver controlled switch and an operating loop for activating brake lights. The relay bypasses the brake pedal switch during downshift de-acceleration for manually flashing the lights. The system is held in a disable mode except during down shift de-acceleration.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,757,301 issued on Jul. 12, 1988 discloses a light pre-warning system for diesel vehicles. The engine brake warning system is connected to the rear of the vehicle in the general area of the brake lights. The lights are hardwired to the engine brake housings to activate according to selected phases of engine braking from the three position switch operated by the driver of the vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,823,109 issued on Apr. 18, 1989 disclose another warning light system for a vehicle powered by an engine employing an engine brake. The warning system takes a signal from an electrical control line associated with the engine brake and uses the signal to initiate a time delay. After the time delay, a switch is activated, turning on a warning light to warn drivers of other vehicles of the deceleration of the vehicle equipped with the warning light system.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,504,472 issued to Wilson on Apr. 2, 1996 disclose a vehicle deceleration warning light that includes a pressure switch in fluid communication with the master hydraulic brake cylinder. When the pressure reaches a predetermined level that is representative of panic or emergency braking, the pressure switch activates a delayed and latched switch that, after a suitable interval, turns on a contrastingly colored flashing warning indicator on the rear deck of the motor vehicle to warn a following driver of the rapid deceleration. The flashing indicator continues its flashing for a predetermined amount of time, even after the pressure on the pedal has been released.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,137,401 issued to Barrows on Oct. 24, 2000 disclose an engine brake indicator system for use with a vehicular accessory power source and a pair of brake lights mounted on a rear of a vehicle. The system included is an engine brake, a stage switch, and an engine brake master switch with different orientations when the engine brake is not employed and when the engine brake is employed. In use, the brake lights are actuated when the engine brakes are employed, indicted by the orientation of master switch. An engine brake indicator system is provided for use with a vehicular accessory power source and a pair of brake lights mounted on a rear of a vehicle. Included is an engine brake having a plurality of engine brake coils, a stage switch, and an engine brake master switch with a first orientation upon the engine brake being unemployed and a second orientation upon the engine brake being employed. In use, the engine brake master switch is connected between the power source and the brake lights for actuating the brake lights only upon being in the second orientation.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,185,495 issued to Bauerieon Feb. 26, 2001 disclose a system for generating a signal which represents a deceleration operation of a motor vehicle. With the system, a relatively precise index for a vehicle deceleration is obtained from the data present anyway in the motor control apparatus at least in newer or future motor control apparatus. If a drive of the brake lamps takes place in dependence upon the signal generated in accordance with the invention, then the traffic following is also made aware of the decelerations which are not directly attributable to an actuation of a brake.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,426,418 issued to Yen et al. On Jan. 13, 2005 disclose a system in a motor vehicle having a hazard warning light and a manual control switch, an improvement consisting of electronic circuitry which causes the hazard warning lights to automatically activate under circumstances of an engine stall and to remain activated until manually reset by the vehicle operator.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,819,234 issued to Bunker et al. on Nov. 16, 2004 discloses a method and system for providing an audible warning of approach of a moving vehicle that is undergoing hard braking. When hard braking is being applied and the initial vehicle velocity (just before hard braking is first applied) is at least equal to a selected threshold velocity, an artificially produced warning sound, resembling the screech or howl of one or more tires in a panic stop, is transmitted, in one or more selected angular sectors. If the initial vehicle velocity is less than the threshold velocity, the warning sound is witheld. The threshold velocity may depend upon one or more of initial velocity, initial deceleration, local road surface conditions and local weather conditions.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,426,418 issued to Furgeson et al. on Jun. 20, 1995 discloses a brake light configuration for a truck having an engine brake which includes the engine brake, a pedal activated brake, a power source and brake lights. A power source and the pedal activated brake are connected with the brake lights so the brake lights illuminate when the brake is activated or alternatively, upon operation of the engine brake. This system is intended to prevent accidents occurring in which motor vehicles drive into the rear end of trucks that have slowed down using their engine brake.
However, a vehicle moving on a road that includes water, snow, ice, gravel, mud, dirt or similar substances, is brought to a sudden stop, this vehicle often skids to a stop without making a sound that might warn others about the sudden braking.
While prior art addresses the issue of warning other drives of deceleration when engine brakes are used, the prior art fails to provide apparatus, methods, system and devices that detect hazardous road conditions based on road surface temperature and warn the driver of the hazardous condition and warn the driver traveling behind the vehicle.